04-27-2023, 09:08 PM
The Duty of Daughters - Part 3
Olivia Pierre had perfect aim. She could shoot an apple off the head of a rather agitated monkey who’d just spent a little too much time with Mariya Adema. She was also proficient in three separate martial arts, and not too shabby with a literal sword. Still, she was extremely nervous as she crept onto the Patel grounds. She knew from her childhood games with Patel cousins how to avoid the motion sensors and other traps. That was fortunate. It was also dark out, and late, and the Patel household staff’s shift change was coming up.
She steadied her breathing, checked her three guns and two knives were exactly where they were when she checked five minutes ago, and proceeded to the back entrance to the basement, giving the signal in the direction of Natasha’s drone. She took out her lock-picks (unfortunately, she’d only started learning how to use these recently) and started work on the door. It took longer than she would have liked, but nobody shouted out, so she assumed she hadn’t been seen.
Olivia slipped inside, bracing for what was sure to be melodramatic decor. She knew the Patel family enjoyed their drama. Nirmala did, after all, bring swords to Council gunfights. She was, however, surprised to find that instead of the mediaeval dungeon theme, she was standing in a perfectly normal modern staircase leading downwards.
She pulled out one of her guns and began to creep forward, allowing the emergency lights to guide her as she headed further down. Apparently, the Patel Mansion had two levels of basements, for she reached an unlocked door, and the stairs still wound further down. She tried the door; behind it was what was clearly a storeroom of sorts. It contained fancy furniture stacked in the back, with crates of wine nearer the door, marked with Kvaskm words. She continued down the stairs.
The lower basement was much more intimidating than the storeroom; and was indeed decorated to resemble a mediaeval dungeon. It contained a narrow corridor with cells on either side, and smelled of unwashed humans. There were the noises of more than one person, and Olivia once more suppressed a groan. Either she’d have to let them all out and somehow sneak them past all the guards, or there would be witnesses. Neither option was good. Still, no turning back now.
Olivia made her way down the corridor, peering in each cell. The first one contained a man who didn’t even seem to understand she was there. Her stomach lurched. Next was an elderly woman singing a mournful tune to herself in Spanish. And on it went, deeper and deeper, until Olivia realised that this stretched beyond the ground underneath the mansion. This was a man-made cave of sorts that must go under the whole Patel grounds. If not further.
This was not good. The corridor was narrow, it would be easy to get trapped here. And if it was taking her this long to find Reena, it would take her just as long to get out. She’d be lucky if she wasn’t discovered by someone just doing the rounds. At least - if it could ever be called that - most of the Patel family’s personal prisoners were too far gone to recognise her, or even acknowledge her presence.
Finally, she reached the end of the corridor. Unfortunately, there was no secondary entrance. One way in, one way out. If a fire started down here, nobody would survive. Olivia doubted the Patels cared. She peered in the final cell, and found Reena. Olivia quickly brought the lock-picks back out and fumbled with the lock, getting the door open.
“Reena?” she whispered. “I’m here to rescue you.”
Reena groaned a little, but didn’t move. Olivia knelt down next to her, and noticed why. All four of her limbs hung at odd angles. They were all broken. “Oh Goddess, Reena…” Olivia whispered, tears coming to her eyes.
“Please… Olivia…” Reena said weakly.
“Oh Goddess,” Olivia replied. “Right, uh…”
She had no choice but to stick her gun back in its holster and pick up Reena in her arms. She hissed with the effort; but fortunately all that training paid off. While Reena’s weight was uncomfortable, even a little painful, she could still walk while carrying her. She would not, however, be able to fight. All that was left to do now was pray they made it out.
They started off back down the corridor. It was not, in fact, as slow going as it had been coming. It was slower. The farther Olivia went, the more Reena’s weight began to hurt her, and Reena’s soft cries of pain every time she was jostled by the movement made the panic rise up within her. If they were caught… no, she couldn’t think about that.
They made it to the stairs, and Olivia began the climb, when a deafening alarm began to sound. She almost dropped Reena in the urge to cover her ears. She began to run up the stairs as fast as she could, but with the added weight, she tripped, falling forward and landing on top of Reena, who couldn’t help but scream in agony. And at the top of the stairs now stood two Patel family guards. Olivia looked up at them, frightened.
The Duty of Daughters - Part 4
Rosemary had managed to get the two Patel women even more drunk, and they’d ended up chattering about what they’d do if they invaded Lauchenoiria. Rosemary was forcing herself to laugh at their jokes while being privately horrified.
“Okay, so if Jennifer… so if Jennifer wants Josephine then what if we, like, cut off ALL her fingers and…”
A loud alarm began to sound; and the two Patels jumped up, sobering up distressingly quickly.
“Report!” Nirmala shouted at a servant who’d immediately appeared.
“Is it the Lauchenoirians?” Yamunda worried. “Have they come for me?”
Okay, so perhaps one of them was still drunk, Rosemary thought, as she edged her way to the door.
“There has been an alert triggered in the sub-basement, Councillor,” the servant said. “One of the prisoners’ tracking chips passed the line.”
“What!?” both Patels yelled in unison, and ran out of the room, followed by the servant, leaving Rosemary alone.
Okay, Rosemary, she thought to herself. Two options: you can leave, and they’ll probably get caught and tortured. Or you can try to help them. And probably get killed. Oh Goddess.
Councillor Rosemary Arnott of Kerlile picked up one of the empty glass bottles of wine and headed towards the back door in the same direction as the Patels.
*
Natasha Robinson watched, helpless, as a veritable crowd of guards appeared as if by magic and headed towards the basement. She did as instructed, and flew closer, only for her visual of the situation to vanish as a surface-to-air missile (just where had the Patel family got one of those!?) destroyed the drone.
*
Xia Chiu was alerted of the disturbance by a flashing red light above the gates to the Patel Estate. She got out of the car, and tried to open the gate, but it had locked itself firmly shut. Thankfully for Xia, she was on the outside. The others, though, would not easily escape.
*
“Well, what do we have here?” one of the Patel guards taunted the pair lying collapsed on the staircase from above, rifles pointed at their heads. “The Patel family traitor, and the Pierre family’s traitor too! Are you all in on this, you reformists?”
Reena, unable to move, merely bowed her head in defeat, allowing tears to run down her cheeks. Olivia, deciding she’d rather die than rot down here, went for one of her guns in spite of the rifles. The guard fired. But not to kill. Olivia screamed, grabbing her hand that had a second ago been pulling the gun out of its holster. She began to shake, crying in pain and fear. And then, behind the guards, appeared Nirmala and Yamunda Patel.
*
When Rosemary saw how many guards there were, she halted. She didn’t even have a gun. There was no way she could do anything. She dropped the bottle, and it smashed before her. A couple of the guards looked around, but seeing a Councillor, they ignored her. With nothing else to do, she turned around and began to run down the driveway to where Xia waited.
*
Xia saw Rosemary running down the path and jumped up, searching to see if she was being chased. She wasn’t. Rosemary crashed into the gate, her momentum suddenly halted.
“Get it open,” Rosemary said, her face white with fear.
“I can’t, it auto-locked when the alarms sounded.”
“Open the boot of the car, pull up the bottom, there are tools,” Rosemary instructed. Xia quickly did as she was told, pulling out some kind of metal saw.
“Uh, does this need to be plugged in?” Xia asked.
“There’s a giant battery,” Rosemary said impatiently. “Hurry!”
Xia found the giant - heavy - battery and attached the saw to it, then rushed back over to the gate and began to cut through part of it. It was loud; and the sparks were burning her hands: she hadn’t thought to look for gloves.
*
“Well, Olivia,” Nirmala shook her head. “Your mother will be very disappointed to hear of your fate. Because, of course, you cannot be allowed to leave here.”
Olivia was crying too much to respond now. She was terrified; for all her mother’s cruelties, Pauline Pierre had never held a candle to the Patels.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Reena to Olivia, through her own grunts of pain. “I’m so sorry.”
Olivia Pierre had perfect aim. She could shoot an apple off the head of a rather agitated monkey who’d just spent a little too much time with Mariya Adema. She was also proficient in three separate martial arts, and not too shabby with a literal sword. Still, she was extremely nervous as she crept onto the Patel grounds. She knew from her childhood games with Patel cousins how to avoid the motion sensors and other traps. That was fortunate. It was also dark out, and late, and the Patel household staff’s shift change was coming up.
She steadied her breathing, checked her three guns and two knives were exactly where they were when she checked five minutes ago, and proceeded to the back entrance to the basement, giving the signal in the direction of Natasha’s drone. She took out her lock-picks (unfortunately, she’d only started learning how to use these recently) and started work on the door. It took longer than she would have liked, but nobody shouted out, so she assumed she hadn’t been seen.
Olivia slipped inside, bracing for what was sure to be melodramatic decor. She knew the Patel family enjoyed their drama. Nirmala did, after all, bring swords to Council gunfights. She was, however, surprised to find that instead of the mediaeval dungeon theme, she was standing in a perfectly normal modern staircase leading downwards.
She pulled out one of her guns and began to creep forward, allowing the emergency lights to guide her as she headed further down. Apparently, the Patel Mansion had two levels of basements, for she reached an unlocked door, and the stairs still wound further down. She tried the door; behind it was what was clearly a storeroom of sorts. It contained fancy furniture stacked in the back, with crates of wine nearer the door, marked with Kvaskm words. She continued down the stairs.
The lower basement was much more intimidating than the storeroom; and was indeed decorated to resemble a mediaeval dungeon. It contained a narrow corridor with cells on either side, and smelled of unwashed humans. There were the noises of more than one person, and Olivia once more suppressed a groan. Either she’d have to let them all out and somehow sneak them past all the guards, or there would be witnesses. Neither option was good. Still, no turning back now.
Olivia made her way down the corridor, peering in each cell. The first one contained a man who didn’t even seem to understand she was there. Her stomach lurched. Next was an elderly woman singing a mournful tune to herself in Spanish. And on it went, deeper and deeper, until Olivia realised that this stretched beyond the ground underneath the mansion. This was a man-made cave of sorts that must go under the whole Patel grounds. If not further.
This was not good. The corridor was narrow, it would be easy to get trapped here. And if it was taking her this long to find Reena, it would take her just as long to get out. She’d be lucky if she wasn’t discovered by someone just doing the rounds. At least - if it could ever be called that - most of the Patel family’s personal prisoners were too far gone to recognise her, or even acknowledge her presence.
Finally, she reached the end of the corridor. Unfortunately, there was no secondary entrance. One way in, one way out. If a fire started down here, nobody would survive. Olivia doubted the Patels cared. She peered in the final cell, and found Reena. Olivia quickly brought the lock-picks back out and fumbled with the lock, getting the door open.
“Reena?” she whispered. “I’m here to rescue you.”
Reena groaned a little, but didn’t move. Olivia knelt down next to her, and noticed why. All four of her limbs hung at odd angles. They were all broken. “Oh Goddess, Reena…” Olivia whispered, tears coming to her eyes.
“Please… Olivia…” Reena said weakly.
“Oh Goddess,” Olivia replied. “Right, uh…”
She had no choice but to stick her gun back in its holster and pick up Reena in her arms. She hissed with the effort; but fortunately all that training paid off. While Reena’s weight was uncomfortable, even a little painful, she could still walk while carrying her. She would not, however, be able to fight. All that was left to do now was pray they made it out.
They started off back down the corridor. It was not, in fact, as slow going as it had been coming. It was slower. The farther Olivia went, the more Reena’s weight began to hurt her, and Reena’s soft cries of pain every time she was jostled by the movement made the panic rise up within her. If they were caught… no, she couldn’t think about that.
They made it to the stairs, and Olivia began the climb, when a deafening alarm began to sound. She almost dropped Reena in the urge to cover her ears. She began to run up the stairs as fast as she could, but with the added weight, she tripped, falling forward and landing on top of Reena, who couldn’t help but scream in agony. And at the top of the stairs now stood two Patel family guards. Olivia looked up at them, frightened.
The Duty of Daughters - Part 4
Rosemary had managed to get the two Patel women even more drunk, and they’d ended up chattering about what they’d do if they invaded Lauchenoiria. Rosemary was forcing herself to laugh at their jokes while being privately horrified.
“Okay, so if Jennifer… so if Jennifer wants Josephine then what if we, like, cut off ALL her fingers and…”
A loud alarm began to sound; and the two Patels jumped up, sobering up distressingly quickly.
“Report!” Nirmala shouted at a servant who’d immediately appeared.
“Is it the Lauchenoirians?” Yamunda worried. “Have they come for me?”
Okay, so perhaps one of them was still drunk, Rosemary thought, as she edged her way to the door.
“There has been an alert triggered in the sub-basement, Councillor,” the servant said. “One of the prisoners’ tracking chips passed the line.”
“What!?” both Patels yelled in unison, and ran out of the room, followed by the servant, leaving Rosemary alone.
Okay, Rosemary, she thought to herself. Two options: you can leave, and they’ll probably get caught and tortured. Or you can try to help them. And probably get killed. Oh Goddess.
Councillor Rosemary Arnott of Kerlile picked up one of the empty glass bottles of wine and headed towards the back door in the same direction as the Patels.
*
Natasha Robinson watched, helpless, as a veritable crowd of guards appeared as if by magic and headed towards the basement. She did as instructed, and flew closer, only for her visual of the situation to vanish as a surface-to-air missile (just where had the Patel family got one of those!?) destroyed the drone.
*
Xia Chiu was alerted of the disturbance by a flashing red light above the gates to the Patel Estate. She got out of the car, and tried to open the gate, but it had locked itself firmly shut. Thankfully for Xia, she was on the outside. The others, though, would not easily escape.
*
“Well, what do we have here?” one of the Patel guards taunted the pair lying collapsed on the staircase from above, rifles pointed at their heads. “The Patel family traitor, and the Pierre family’s traitor too! Are you all in on this, you reformists?”
Reena, unable to move, merely bowed her head in defeat, allowing tears to run down her cheeks. Olivia, deciding she’d rather die than rot down here, went for one of her guns in spite of the rifles. The guard fired. But not to kill. Olivia screamed, grabbing her hand that had a second ago been pulling the gun out of its holster. She began to shake, crying in pain and fear. And then, behind the guards, appeared Nirmala and Yamunda Patel.
*
When Rosemary saw how many guards there were, she halted. She didn’t even have a gun. There was no way she could do anything. She dropped the bottle, and it smashed before her. A couple of the guards looked around, but seeing a Councillor, they ignored her. With nothing else to do, she turned around and began to run down the driveway to where Xia waited.
*
Xia saw Rosemary running down the path and jumped up, searching to see if she was being chased. She wasn’t. Rosemary crashed into the gate, her momentum suddenly halted.
“Get it open,” Rosemary said, her face white with fear.
“I can’t, it auto-locked when the alarms sounded.”
“Open the boot of the car, pull up the bottom, there are tools,” Rosemary instructed. Xia quickly did as she was told, pulling out some kind of metal saw.
“Uh, does this need to be plugged in?” Xia asked.
“There’s a giant battery,” Rosemary said impatiently. “Hurry!”
Xia found the giant - heavy - battery and attached the saw to it, then rushed back over to the gate and began to cut through part of it. It was loud; and the sparks were burning her hands: she hadn’t thought to look for gloves.
*
“Well, Olivia,” Nirmala shook her head. “Your mother will be very disappointed to hear of your fate. Because, of course, you cannot be allowed to leave here.”
Olivia was crying too much to respond now. She was terrified; for all her mother’s cruelties, Pauline Pierre had never held a candle to the Patels.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Reena to Olivia, through her own grunts of pain. “I’m so sorry.”
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